Sunday, 22 May 2011

Sir Alex Ferguson will not retire even if he wins a European double

• Ferguson confident ahead of final against Barcelona
• Manager tried to sign Pep Guardiola for Manchester United

Sir Alex Ferguson will not be retiring even if his Manchester United side beat Barcelona in the Champions League final.

Win or lose, Sir Alex Ferguson will not consider retiring after Saturday's hotly anticipated Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona at Wembley. The United manager has already begun plotting for next season and has confirmed he would not be tempted to leave on a high even if his team complete a Premier League and European Cup double. Ferguson, who turns 70 in December, would be the second oldest European Cup-winning coach, at 69 years and 148 days, behind the Belgian Raymond Goethals, who was 71 and 232 days old when capturing club football's biggest prize with Marseille in 1993. This winter Ferguson began planning for the retirements of Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and probably Paul Scholes while tying Wayne Rooney to a new long-term contract after the England striker had agitated for a move to Manchester City. Ferguson says there is "absolutely no chance" of Rooney reviving his design to leave United this summer. United are in confident mood for the rematch of the 2009 final in Rome, which Barcelona won 2-0. "Rooney's form has been good for the last two to three months, [Antonio] Valencia and Park [Ji-sung] are fresh, while [Javier] Hernández has been a breath of fresh air to everyone," Ferguson said. "We have fresh players and that's important." After his aborted retirement plan in 2001-2002, Ferguson stopped thinking of the end of his Old Trafford career in age-related terms and concluded instead he would stand down only if his health deteriorated or he stopped enjoying the job. Now in his 25th year at United, and with more than 2,000 games as a manager behind him, he is aiming to match Bob Paisley's record of three European Cups with Liverpool from 1977-1981. United will field a strong team for the visit of Blackpool today, with Van der Sar, Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra, Scholes, Anderson and Dimitar Berbatov all certain to start as Ian Holloway's team attempt to avoid relegation. Barcelona left eight players at home for the trip to Málaga, including Lionel Messi. "It's harder to pick the team for the Barcelona game because you are leaving great players out. The team that plays on Sunday will be all right," said Ferguson, who revealed he tried to sign Pep Guardiola, the Barcelona coach: "I spoke to his agent when he left Barcelona and moved to Italy [in 2001 to join Brescia]. We were a bit interested in him because he was a good footballer, [a] good passer of the ball. "He has created a different philosophy for Barcelona. I think the [Johan] Cruyff era laid the foundation for the width they used in their game and using the full size of the pitch. If you look at their midfield players over the last 20 years they have all been small. What has changed is the pressing and the areas in which they press the ball. That is what Guardiola has brought to the team." Asked about the threat posed by the world's best player, Ferguson said: "We will pay attentions to the abilities of Messi. They will try to get a passing routine in the middle of the pitch and keep the ball from us. The danger is that we pay them too much attention and that's why I make the point that we have to pay attention to our own game. "You can judge Messi at the end of his career. I think that's fair. It is a long career and what he has achieved at the moment is fantastic. You can only judge him against [Diego] Maradona, Pelé, Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stéfano at the end of his career. Ronaldo would come into that bracket, too." United won their first European Cup at Wembley in 1968 and Ferguson said: "The great thing about the last time Manchester United were at Wembley was that it completed Sir Matt's rebuilding of the team and everyone wanted him to win it. The whole country was behind him and I am not sure the whole country is behind us now."